There are three steps that are necessary for the Court to consider when determining whether a grandchild is entitled to provision out of their grandparent’s estate. As Hallen AsJ stated in Sammut v Kleemann [2012] NSWSC 1030, the Court is to:
(i) determine whether the applicant is an eligible person within the meaning of that term in s 57(1) of the Succession Act 2006 (“the Act”);
(ii) determine in the case, relevantly, of a s 57(1)(e) applicant, whether the Court is satisfied that there are factors which warrant the making of the application within s 59(1)(b) of the Act; and, if both eligibility and factors warranting are established;
(iii) determine whether the applicant has been left with inadequate provision for his, or her, proper maintenance, education and advancement in life; and, if so, what, if any, provision (or further provision) ought to be made out of the estate for those purposes?
To be eligible under section 57 of the Act you must have at some stage throughout your life been wholly or partly dependant on the deceased. You must then prove why your grandparent should have left you provision out of their estate.